


The Time I’ll Never Forget

by StrangeTechiques



Category: Iron Man - Fandom, Iron Man 3 - Fandom, Marvel
Genre: Gen, Gifts, Harley deserves more recognition, I don’t know what to tag, Iron Man - Freeform, Iron Man 3, One Shot, summer time
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-20
Updated: 2019-05-20
Packaged: 2020-03-08 06:50:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,559
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18889360
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StrangeTechiques/pseuds/StrangeTechiques
Summary: It’s been years since Harley and Tony Stark worked together to save the world. Harley since then has been surviving off of the things that Tony had gifted him all those years ago, and newer ones that come in every once in a while.But the box on his desk was new. He hasn’t received anything from Tony for the longest stretch of Time. Could this be another gift from him?





	The Time I’ll Never Forget

It had been many years since his experience with Tony Stark. The older man had quite the influence on Harley’s life, and even though he hadn’t seen Tony since then, he never forgot that night and the following few days. Never forgot, or would ever forget all the things that he had come home from school to witness in his garage. Things that he couldn’t ever imagine being in his possession in his entire life. 

Tony Stark made an impact, and he pursued to be like Tony. A mechanic. Build things that would better help the world, and each day, each week, month and year, he got better. Using the tools and inspiration that Tony had him all those years ago. The garage had turned into his workshop, only himself being allowed in there to preserve the things that were being made at the time, alongside preserving the things that were gifted to him. 

Harley was around 16 at the time, high school being more of a nightmare than elementary and middle school combined. Which was saying something. Middle school had been horrible, but his hate for the place had remained mostly internal. Bullying was still a problem, but at this point, Harley likes to think he had a lot more bite than bark. He no longer took the teasing and threats lightly. Threaten him, he’ll threaten you right back but worse. 

And it usually worked. Especially since he carried around things that could scare people off. His favorite had been a rubber band gun that he had put together with school supplies. Anyone could make one yes, but what made his different, was that he made it highly, efficient. Rubber band guns hurt, but this would do more than a quick sting and a bruise. That would just be intensified. He never had to fire it, but no one wanted to tempt fates to make him do so. 

_Cause if there was one thing someone must know from Harley Keener, is that if he says he will do something, you better believe he will. Firing that handmade rubber band weapon, wasn’t something out of his league._

The sun had been particularly hot on a partial summer afternoon. School had let out, and now it was time for the walk home. Harley had his bag slung on his back, only one strap being placed on his shoulder. He was decked out in a plaid short sleeved button up shirt, dawning a red color theme. This was paired with a pair of shorts alongside his favorite pair of sneakers. His blonde hair had been left unchecked for the entire day, leaving it more of a mess than normal, rustling in the warm wind that was being carried through the sunny day. He didn’t have enough care in the world to care about that though. If he looked clean one day, then that’s what he did. If the next he looked like he rolled out of bed and that was it, then that was it. 

The street Harley was walking on was mainly empty, only a few people passed by him on the sidewalk, occasionally a car passing by on the street as well. He had his hands in the pockets of his shorts, kicking along a rock that had been laying on the pavement of the sidewalk a while back. This was what kept him entertained as he walked home, not having friends or any close acquaintances to share the burden of walking home with. He also chose not to ride the bus, after elementary and about a year of a junior high on a bus, he decided upon him to never get on one of those things again. 

Which kept him from joining any sports teams at the school. Not that he was particularly interested in participating in anything that the school put together. Especially with the people on his grade being the people he’d seek vengeance on for the rest of his life. He didn’t enjoy the kids his age in his small town in Tennessee. If some accident fame around and took care of them, that’d be a day for celebration on his part. 

The sun was beating down on his neck quite fiercely by the time he turned into his yard, doing one final hard kick on the rock he dragged along with him, watching it fly down the sidewalk and eventually bounce and roll into the street. A small smile and huff came across his face at that. Just a small amount of amusement for his afternoon after a long, and hot day of sitting in classrooms. 

Harley didn’t bother crossing the path to go inside the house, knowing that no one was home at the minute. His mother was out who knows where for the afternoon like always, and his sister still had a decent 40 minutes or so of school left before she came home. That left him alone for almost an hour. 

The blonde made a beeline towards the entrance to the garage, removing his hands from his pockets so he could swing his backpack around and fish out his key to the garage door in the smallest pocket. It took a little while to fishing around before his hand clasped around the small key from where it later connected to his keychain. Upon pulling it out, he wasted no time in sticking the key in the lock and unlocking the door. 

The heavy door of the garage creaked a little as it was swung open, Harley stepping inside and dropping his back into the floor with a thud, pocketing his keys before trailing over his main desk and sliding into his chair. The chair was equipped with wheels on the legs, so upon sitting down, he slid back a little, going further down the long workbench. His eyes were drawn to the care Parked in the garage when he did. It was an old busted up one, a ‘gift’ left behind by his father all those years ago. At least that’s how he classified it as. 

_Or just a waste of space. Either one worked._

The broken car with fading colors had been something he wanted to work on for a while now. It was just a matter of getting the things together to fix it. Harley had no doubts that he could fix it, he just didn’t have the money yet to buy the parts needed to fix it. Out of curiosity one boring evening, Harley had looked over the car, checked under the hood and under the car. He knew what it needed, a handy list had been hanging up on his Cork board for a while now. 

Harley frowned lightly at the car, leaning his head back over the back of the chair, looking over the car with an ounce of distaste in his eyes. It was only then did he notice a box on the other side of the room. It appeared new, unlike the used boxes he had around full of extra or unneeded parts from things he had worked on over the years. 

Immediate curiosity struck his veins as he sat up fully slowly, eyes never once leaving the box as he did. A thought on what it could be crossed his mind as he stood up, moving around the car to the other side of the garage, stopping at the small tabletop the box laid upon. It was taped shut, no note, nothing proving to be a hint as to what it was. 

The young mechanic picked up the box, moving it around before shaking it lightly to see if he could figure it out that way. He came up empty handed. The fairly small box only provided him with a light thunking from the inside which sounded like a another, but slightly heavier box than the cardboard one that held it. With curiosity still on his tongue, Harley set the box down and looked around for his pocket knife. It took a minute or two before he was able to find it amidst a pile of other things within a drawer connected to his workbench. 

Taking out the small blade most suitable for the task at hand, Harley returned to the box, slicing open the tape so he could bring the flaps of the box apart. His suspicions had been right about one thing, it had been another box on the inside. A small, black one with a company name on top. Reaching into the box he picked up the smaller black one, holding that in one hand and looking it over before finally pulling open the black box. 

A white piece of paper was why he first saw, covering the item underneath. The paper had words, ones that he read over immediately upon seeing it. 

’This is what an adult watch looks like kid. -The Mechanic’ 

Harley, blank faced stared at the note for a while, reading over those words over again in his head multiple times before he finally gained the courage to brush aside the note, uncovering underneath, a shiny, silver and gold colored watch. And it was by far, the most expensive watch he had ever seen compared to the ones people wore in the town. 

He couldn’t help but allow a bright, overwhelmed smile to cross his face.


End file.
